Bolt relocking device for safes



Aug. 2, 1960 c. F. WOLTERS 7 2,947,160

BOLT RELOCKING DEVICE FOR SAFES Filed Nov. 7. 1955 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTO CARL F. WOLTERS TTORNEY Aug. 2, 1960' c. F. WOLTERS BOLT RELQCKING DEVICE FOR SAFES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 7, 1955 12 FIQZ FIG.3

R v m L 0 o E M m NM T IA A C. F. WOLTERS BOLT RELOCKING DEVICE FOR SAFES Aug. 2, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 7, 1955 F'IG.5

INVENTOR CARL F. WOLTERS BY W0 1; AT TORNEY Uni d ums a y noLT RELOCKING nnvrcnrons "Carl F. Wolters, New Canaan, Conn., 'assignor to Sperry I Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation ll of Delaware Filed Nov. 7, 1955, s81- No. 54 5,263 I s 2 Claims. (01. 70-15 This invention relates to new and useful improvements in safe locking means .and has particular reference to adjacent wall of the door of the safe to permit the passage of the bolts into the recesses.

1 'In Figure 1 the rear wall 16 of the safe is cut away to showthe rear face 17 of the wall of the door and to this rear face asupporting plate 18 is suitably spotwelded. On this plate 18 the casing 19. to the usual combination lockis fastened. This lock has a bolt 20 adapted to be projected downwardly when the knob 21 of the combination lock on the outside of the door is turned on shaft 22. In Figure 1 the bolt 20 is shown in its operative locking position. Also on the outside of the door is a handle which automatically becomes effective when any bolt is thus illegally even partly retracted to block any further retraction of that bolt and all the others.

In general each bolt has associated therewith mechani: cal means which is moved immediately upon any attempt to drive the bolt back from the outside of the safe and this movement is so associated with the cooperative elements within the safe that further retractive. movement is prevented. Several forms of means are illustrated to activate what I choose to call the relocking-means. In one form a lock slide is released immediately upon the initial illegal retractive movement of a bolt and said slide is-rnoved to a position where'it blocks any retractive movement of a linkage associated jwith all the bolts.

In another form the; end-gof the-bolt is provided with a 23 fixed to a rotatable shaft 24 extending through the wall 17' and the plate 18 and having fixed to its inner end a dependent arm 25 which is pivotally connected at 26 to a slidable plate 27. This platethas a slot 28 therein in which rides a headed pin 29 fastened to the plate 18 whereby the movemen t of the plate 27 under the direction of the swinging arm 25 is guided. This plate 27 also has a horizontal extending flange 30 at its left hand upper edge lying to the left of the bolt 20 when the bolt is in its operative position so that nomovement of the plate 27 is possible when the bolt is in this position.

When the bolt 20 is retracted into its casing there is no obstruction to the sliding movement to the right, as viewed in Figure l, of the plate 27 which then can be moved by the swinging of the handle 23 on the outside of the door to retract the bolts.

-E ach bolt on the outer portion thereof which enters the recess 13 is in the form of a solid cylinder 31 which is cut away at the rear end thereof to form a fiat surface against which an extension plate 32 is disposed and fasdepressible plate which when depressed, will project one 1 ormore locking plugs laterally from thebolt to prevent it frorn being fully retracted from the recessin which it is disposed when in locking positiohr" isan anoth' r. form involves pivoting the bolt and an associated extension plate ona connecting link by an ofiset pivot point whereby any attempt to drive the-bolt back will causethesextension plate to rock sufficiently to dispose an inner end thereof closely adjacent a fixed'blocking plate-within the safe thus preventing further retractive movement. 7

come almost immediately effective so that the slight refrom theirrecess".

T-he present preferred formof inventionjis illustra'tedin the drawings of which;

1 is' a? vertical cross "section through a safe, with th rearw'alL-broken away and looking towardithej front glee; o f thesafeg f Fig. 2 is "an enlarged partial section showing "one means ofrelockinga boltg- -"-Figt 3 is' asimilar view showing another means 0 relocking a bolt;

Fig. 4 is a similar viewshowingf stillianother means of 5 is a Partial enlarged P rspective of the mechanism.

Referring now to the specific forms of the relocking means shown in the drawings, it will be seen that there is provided a safe casing of spaced steel walls 10 and 11 with intervening-fireproof material such as cement 12. This casing is provided with metal lined recesses 13 to Asflfixed, in an suitable manner, to the supporting tened thereto by a rivet 33. In this respect and as thus far described the construction of all the bolts is the same. However, further description of the bolt construction and operation will. vary because there are provided three forms of means to prevent the illegal forcing 'of the bolts j bolt 31'is in the projected position shown in Fig. 2 the It is to be borne in mind that these several means bethe link. plate 36 to guide the movement of the extension plate 32. At the right end of the connecting link 36 it is provided ,with. aheaded pin 40 which is disposed for sliding movement in an openended slot 41 in the lower .edge of plate 27 as shown; In the extreme right end of .the connecting. link 36 it is pivotally connected by pin .42lto'an arm L43 fixed toasleeve 44 rotatable on a shaft iateilsg a I I a 1 1 arm Aqfextends beyond the. sleeve 44 and'at its otherend is pivotally pinned at 46 to a connecting link 47 related to the r ht handhorizontal bolt 41 in a manner fli -be. laterfldescri ed. Another similar arm 48 is fixed to? the s1eeve 44j'a 'nd atv its opposite ends is connected to the" connecting links 49 and 50 respectively of the upper and lower bolts 31", as shown particularly in Figures 1 and 5. It is apparent therefore that any horizontal movement of the plate 27 to the left, as viewed in Figure 2, will rock this pair of arms 43 and 48 to project the four bolts into their recess and similarly any movereceive the ends of the locking bolts. Alined apertures 14 are provided bothin the inner wall 11 and the closely ment of said plate 27 to the right, as viewed in Figure 5, will turn these arms and cause the retraction of the four bolts from their recesses.

Referring back to the operation of the left hand horizontal bolt 31, it is assumed that the arm 23 has been swung to the left, as viewed in Figure 1, and the plate 27 has been moved to the left thus rocking the arms 43 and 48 and projecting the bolts into their recesses as shown in that figure. Now referring to Figure 2 if someone illegally bores a hole 51 through the left side of the safe wall and inserts a suitable .tool 52- and drives it in against the end of this bolt '31 this will cause the bolt to move slightly to the right,-whereupon the pin 54 will move slightly'to the right and will lift the weaker arm 38 of the fork on connecting link 36 and force 'it against a horizontal fiange53 on a latch plate 54 and thus lift said latch plate. The lower edge of this latch plate is provided with a dependent toe 55 which normally lies in a notch 56 in a lockingslide plate 57. This slide plate is housed in a covering plate 57 spot-welded against the supporting plate 18 and provided with an offset channel in which said locking slide plate moves. One end of this locking slide plate is provided with a projecting lug 58 to receive oneend of a spring 59 the other end of which is attached to a projecting lug 60 on the other end of the cover plate 57'. This cover plate 57' has a laterally projecting portion 61 which confines the vertical movement of the latch plate 54 and the upper edge of this portion 61 acts as a stop for the horizontally projecting flange 53 on the upper edge of latch plate 54 to limit the downward movement of said latch plate.

It is obvious then that this illegal movement of the bolt 31 will release the latch plate 54 and cause the lock plate 57, under the influence of spring 59 to snap to the right until the lug 58 encounters the left edge of the cover plate 57. This position of the lock plate 57 is .shown in Figure 2 and in this position it lies over the upper end of the extension 50 of the lower bolt 31" thus preventing any rocking of the arms 43 and 48 and thus preventing the full retractions of the bolts from the recess by this illegal means.

Another construction of relocking device is shown in the drawings and is illustrated in connection with the right hand horizontal bolt 31 shown particularly in Figures 1, 3 and 5. The extension piece 3250f thispbolt is pivoted at 62 to the connecting link 47 which joins the plate '32 with the lower endof arm 43. It will be noted that the pivot point 62 is disposed substantially below the horizontal mid-line of the bolt 31' andits extension piece 32' as-shown particularly in Figure '1. Just below the connecting link 47 at its left end as seen in 'Figure 1 is disposed a horizontal flange or blocking plate "63 which is fastened in any suitable manner to the lower portion of the supporting plate 18. As seen in Figure l the end of the extension piece 32' of this bolt terminates just short of the right-end of this blocking plate. If one seeking to illegally open thesafe bores a hole .in the wall thereof and introduces a rod 52 in the. manner above described to try to move the bolt back, it will be seen that any pressure thus exerted, due to the offset disposition of the pivot point 62 will cause the extension piece 32 to swing around this pivot point so that its left endiis is bored to form a chamber 64 and the bottom of said chamber is apertured as at 65 to connect the chamber 64 with the transverse passage 66 therebelow in the bolt. Snug fitting plate 67 is disposed for movement within the chamber 64 and has an integral dependent portion 68 of reduced diameter to pass through the aperture 65. Normally the plate 67 is disposed in the chamber 64 with its top edge flush with the outer face of the bolt as shown in Figure 1. Normally disposed within the transverse passage .66are disposed, at outer ends thereof, locking plugs 69 which lie with their outer faces flush with the outer periphery of the bolt as shown in Figure 1. Adjacent ends 70 of these plugs are tapered and the lower end of the reduced portion 68 of -the plate 67 is tapered as shown as shown at 71., It is apparent that if someone bores a hole into the bottom or top of the safe, in the manner above described, and introduces a rod or tool 52, this tool will encounter the plate 67 and depress it, which will cause the locking plugs 69 to be forced out,- wardl-y, as shown in'Figure 4, sufiiciently far to lie back of the inner wall 11 of the safe and thus prevent any further movement of the bolt.

It is apparent that in using any one or more of these forms of relocking devices any illegal attempt to retract the bolts by boringthrough the outer wall of the safe will only permit a very slight-retraction of the bolts not sufficient to move them clear of their recess but sufficiently far to cause an alteration in the disposition of the associated parts to positively block any further retraction bolt mechanism, after an attempt to unlock it, is shown in Figures 1, 4 and 5 with particular reference to the upper 'and'lower bolts 31" shown. In this form of construction,

as shown in Figure l, the outer end of the bolt 31" movement.

Wh'at'I'claim as my invention is:

-1. In a safe having a bolt, said safe having a recess into which said bolt extends when advanced to locking position, locking plugs disposed Within the bolt and adapted for lateral movement therefrom into said recess, and means'o'n the bolt and moved when force is applied tosaid means through the walls of the safe to contact and advance said plugs from the bolt into said recess and prevent the retraction of the bolt from the recess.

2. Ina safe having abolt, said safe 'having a recess into which s'aid "bolt extends when advanced to locking position, flocking plugs disposed within the bolt and adapted for lateral movement therefrom into said recess, the adjacent ends of said plugs being tapered, a plate disposed in the top of the -bolt and adapted to be moved inwardly when force is applied to the plate through the walls of the safe, the inner end of said plate being tapered and cooperating with the tapered ends of said plugs to advance them into the recess and block the retraction of the bolt therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany Nov. 10, 1933 

